EPA riders axed, lawmakers say

An evolving deal to avoid a government shutdown would include a study of the economic effect of environmental regulations rather than Republican riders to block EPA rules on climate change and mountaintop mining, senior Senate Democrats and a key House Republican say.

That would be a major victory for Democrats and environmental groups who have been fighting to keep policy riders on a host of regulations out of any deal.

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“EPA riders as proposed by the House will not be included,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters. He said the deal could include a study instead.

“It’s one of the proposals. It isn’t all done until it’s all done,” he said.

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told POLITICO she believes the deal would be to study the economic costs of environmental regulations.

“It sets up a study committee — across the board, government, everybody’s sitting at the table looking at the impact of these regulations, EPA and Commerce. But we’re looking at it now,” she said. “There are no riders involving EPA. That is my understanding, period, and when I say my understanding, it is because there is no deal final. But at this stage, there are no riders.”

The study could end up echoing legislation from Reps. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and John Sullivan (R-Okla.) that would require an interagency committee to analyze the cumulative impacts of several EPA rules “in an effort to better understand how these policies are impacting America’s global economic competitiveness, electricity and fuel prices, employment and reliability of electricity supply,” according to an April 4 statement from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton.

The analysis in the Matheson-Sullivan bill would include the cumulative impacts of EPA’s rules on consumers, small businesses, state, local and tribal governments, labor markets and agriculture.

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of the Energy and Power Subcommittee, told POLITICO he has also “heard there was a study for costs, but we’re still pushing our greenhouse gas bill.”

On EPA greenhouse gas riders, he said, "All I know is, it's not an issue anymore. I guess that means it's not being pushed or that it was changed in some way that was acceptable."

Greenhouse gas restrictions are “not in the budget,” he added. "I think it's just dollar amounts is my understanding."

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad said House Republicans on Thursday brought up the issue of EPA mountaintop mining rules but that since fell off the table. “They’ve apparently backed off of that,” said the North Dakota Democrat.

Boxer said there was “a lot of talks” initially about riders dealing with greenhouse gases “but I think the fact that we had our votes and they did so badly, they dropped it.”

A Republican plan to block EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions Wednesday received support from 50 senators, less than the 60 to overcome a filibuster and the 67 to defeat a promised presidential veto. A similar plan easily passed the GOP-controlled House on Thursday.

There was then word, Boxer said, “they would do something on mountaintop mining removal, … then apparently they walked away from that because that would have been very unpopular. I think, and that would have actually repealed some sections of the Clean Water Act, so they backed off.”

Robin Bravender and Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 3:12 p.m. on April 8, 2011.